United States creates the wrong solutions to real problems

Tuesday

Oct 1, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Margaret Thatcher once stated, "The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." Tuesday, the Health Insurance Marketplace opens, and the long march to place America's health care system under federal oversight and control begins. The New Deal, the Great Society, now Obamacare: Intentionally or not America has become an entitlement society with a philosophy of increased government intervention and control of the private economy. This aggressive re-distributive tax policy and burdensome regulations only lead in one direction.

Dwight Cornelison

Margaret Thatcher once stated, "The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." Tuesday, the Health Insurance Marketplace opens, and the long march to place America's health care system under federal oversight and control begins. The New Deal, the Great Society, now Obamacare: Intentionally or not America has become an entitlement society with a philosophy of increased government intervention and control of the private economy. This aggressive re-distributive tax policy and burdensome regulations only lead in one direction. This economic philosophy of overcoming wealth inequality is nothing new. Hints of socialism can be found as early as the ancient Greeks, but the development of a cohesive philosophy of socialism began just before the French and American revolutions, mostly as a response to the beginnings of the Industrial Age. America's move toward socialism can probably be traced back to the New Deal but has rapidly accelerated under the current administration.Until the Industrial Age most economic activity was confined to the home, the farm and small enterprises. Technology, science, manufacturing, trade and new industries arose that required more labor. This resulted in more people working outside the home to produce more goods and more services. Men, women and children working long hours with low wages and often in horrific conditions created pronounced economic disparities. The socialist doctrines of the 18th century seized on problems created by the Industrial Revolution. Many philosophers like Voltaire and Rousseau, Kant and Marx began reassessing assumptions about God, knowledge, truth and social and economic structures. Rousseau argued that society and property ownership had corrupted humans. He argued that a powerful state would enforce absolute equality. His view was that man would be good absent the temptations of power and privilege. Marx believed capitalism was the final major stage before "the dictatorship of the proletariat" and communism.The two revolutions that occurred in the 18th century had far-reaching and different outcomes. The American Revolution was fought to limit government and protect property rights. America's founders created a government based on a biblical view of human nature. Since humans cannot be trusted in their sinful nature, the Constitution created a separation of powers and checks and balances within the national government and the states guaranteeing personal property rights, freedom of religion, speech and assembly, and the right to bear arms. The great flaw of America's founding was allowing slavery, which divided the nation and led to war. It took more than another 100 years and the civil rights movement to secure rights for all Americans. Meanwhile, America's economy soared, survived the Great Depression and became the world's leader in wealth, military power and influence.On the other side of the Atlantic, Rousseau's vision of a perfectible human in a collective state took place. The French Revolution was a revolt against capitalism, royalty and Christianity. The "Age of Reason" turned into a "Reign of Terror" with guillotines, first beheading the privileged and then anyone thought to be anti-revolutionary, including their leader, Robespierre. The chaos allowed Napoleon to take ultimate power and plunged Europe into war.The various utopian, anarchist and socialist thinkers dominated French philosophy during the 19th century paving the way for Marx and his "Communist Manifesto." In 1848 and 1849, anarchists and socialists launched failed revolutions in Europe and stalled Marx's regime of absolute equality. But after decades of rapid industrial growth and relative stability, Europe was plunged into a World War (1914-18) opening the door for socialists to have their own nation to demonstrate their superior international socialist vision. The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was created, and Lenin soon found he had to suppress the "counter-revolutionaries" who resented the crackdown on the church, civil rights and the seizure and redistribution of property.The 20th century became the bloodiest century in history as socialist countries began to oppress their own people. A glaring rebuke was that during the 20th century America became the richest, freest, most powerful nation in history. But in the last few years America is showing signs of the socialist disease. A weak or nonexistent faith in God has a nation with a rising obsession for materialism, a loss of respect for innocent life and a growing dependence of an ever-growing government to provide for all of their needs.Perhaps the biggest flaw in socialism is its misreading of human nature, particularly the role that the sin of envy plays. People love to speak out about greed they associate with capitalism. Capitalism is distorted as a zero sum game where if someone becomes rich then someone else must become poor. This crusade of reducing income inequality through redistributing income aims to punish the "haves" as much as it claims to help the "have-nots." This is the politics of envy; people have the right to resent others' good fortune, hard work or income and are entitled to someone else's money. Winston Churchill once stated, "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." History has shown that once the politics of envy is commonplace and a redistribution of income has become accepted by the populace as a legitimate function of government, the slope of self-government, freedom and economic prosperity becomes very slippery. Dwight D. Cornelison served on the Thomasville City Council from 1999-2008.

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